SIDNEY — Prather Automotive is expanding from Troy and Piqua to Sidney.
Owner Allen Prather, of Tipp City, will celebrate the grand opening of an auto service center, tire store and used car dealership at 1030 Wapakoneta Ave., June 25, from noon to 2 p.m.
Radio station K99.1FM, from Dayton, will broadcast on a live remote from the business, patrons will enjoy food and refreshments and two tickets to Country Concert will be given away.
The business’s operating hours that day will be 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Prather opened Prather Automotive Specialists, a service center, in Troy, July 1, 2015. In October, he added a used car dealership in Piqua. The business has grown to $1 million in just a year.
“What’s made us so successful is that we always try to offer the lowest labor rate in town, but (customers) are getting high-level service. You have to get it right the first time or they won’t come back,” Prather said. “Our tire prices are hard to beat because of the volume, and we’re a family-run operation.”
Prather didn’t set out to be an auto dealer. A standout baseball player in Vandalia, where he grew up, Prather had already had discussions with the Boston Red Sox about joining its farm club. But a high school injury sidelined him.
“I went into the automotive business at 18. I got hooked instantly,” he said. He was a store manager of Joseph Toyota in Vandalia by the time he was 20. He also managed a Toyota dealership in Sarasota, Florida, and eventually became general sales manager and finance manager of Jeff Schmidt Auto Sales in Dayton where he stayed for eight years.
But the job he loved was taking him away from his family for too much of the time.
“I always had in the back of my mind to open my own store,” he said. That has allowed him to be with his wife, 13-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son a lot more. And the family gets to share in his accomplishments.
“People like what you’re doing for them. It’s very rewarding,” Prather said.
In Sidney, he plans to employ eight people. He’s still looking for mechanics and salespeople. Five are onboard so far. There are 18 employees in all three locations.
“I attribute success to the people we have in place,” Prather said. “I couldn’t have done it without them.”
He has set himself a lofty goal.
“I want to be the No. 1 tire dealer and the No. 1 independent auto dealer in Sidney within a year,” he said. “We have a good variety of cars in price ranges from $700 to $50,000. I buy from auctions all over the U.S. and have them trucked in.”
The full-service repair shop will handle everything but body work and Prather offers 17 brands of new tires, as well as used tires.
For information, call 937-492-0996.
